Six Lessons from Six Years in Business
In March 2022, I celebrated the six-year anniversary of starting Treadaway. In reflecting on this milestone, I realized just how long the days have been but how short the years have been. Two of those years were pandemic years. Two of those years were grad school years. Two of those years were “What the #$% am I doing?” years.
The entrepreneurship journey has certainly not been an easy one but I wouldn’t trade the experiences, clients, and lessons for anything.
To honor six years as an entrepreneur, I’ve been thinking about the six major lessons I’ve learned (some of them the hard way).
Lesson 1: Serve constantly.
As a consultant, in essence, you monetize your ability to serve. Keeping true service at the heart of business is essential. If every interaction in your business is framed only as a transaction in your mind, you miss all the intangible and truly extraordinary aspects of being a consultant. Clients and projects aren’t just names and revenue, they are an opportunity to institute freedom, inspire change, and truly solve problems. Don’t miss this.
Lesson 2: Consume thoughtfully.
As a business owner, you’ll find countless products, blogs, and techniques for success aimed directly at you (including this blog you’re reading!). Be thoughtful in your consumption of this information — don’t just listen to anybody and anything. The quality and the quantity of the advice you consume will determine the success of the actions you take next. In the words of Dieter Rams, “Less but better.”
Lesson 3: Take all responsibility.
If you succeed, if you fail, if you err, if you pivot, if you question, if you misled, you must take all responsibility. The blame game will be the death of joy in your business. Taking responsibility and ownership over every piece of your business can liberate you from fear of failure and transform your journey into one beautiful experiment.
Lesson 4: Champion yourself.
When you start your business, everyone cheers you on and champions your work and you can ride that wave for a while. When the tides calm, you’ll need to know how to champion yourself. When the balls drop, you’ll need to know how to put it into perspective. When year five hits, you’ll need to know how to persevere. Championing yourself isn’t just self-promotion, but dictating thoughtfully the words you say about yourself and the thoughts you have about your work.
Lesson 5: Kill your ego.
Learning to kill your ego while keeping your self-worth is a critical journey for every creative and every business owner. If every time you receive feedback, you take it as character attack, you are setting yourself up for failure. Ego will drive you to feel deeply about your work. Self-worth will drive you to feel value from your effort. Feedback through ego will inherently feel like an attack. Feedback through self-worth will look like an opportunity for growth. If you aren’t growing, you’re dying. Kill your ego instead of killing your business.
Lesson 6: Get selective.
Not everything is worth your effort. Time is your most precious resource. Being selective about what you do, who you work with, what platforms you engage on, what content you consume, what lives on your desk, what people you hire, what people you confide in is critical. You do not need to do it all. Find what feeds you and eliminate the extraneous.
Remember that the spirit of these lessons is from my own journey. Your journey will look different. One thing I know without a doubt is that owning your own business is not for everyone but entrepreneurship is. You can take the lessons and insights and energy and perspective into your work no matter what you do and where you do it.
Keep learning,
